As the new year looms ahead and all the year-in-review and what’s-to-come thinkpieces start rolling out, we too are feeling reflective.

How has the climate disinformation landscape shifted? Who’s tapped out, and who’s emerging? And why are UFOs and Uzbekistan part of the climate disinfo conversation? 

Just look at this picture that Bjorn Lomborg posted to X/Twitter. “Great to meet Deputy Minister of Health Elmira Basitkhanova,” the text caption reads. “Her ministry is responsible for many of [the] best value for money policies for Uzbekistan.” Two days earlier, Lomborg also posted similar pictures of himself smiling next to Uzbekistan’s deputy minister of digital technologies and the director of the Agency for Innovative Development.

Lomborg’s long sought to ply his trade to whomever will listen, so meeting with government officials from Uzbekistan to tell them how they should do their jobs is not exactly a new breakthrough for him.

But Lomborg’s bland self-promotion is a great example of the larger changes in the climate disinformation landscape on Twitter/X. While the platform was once a digital space where you could observe disinfluencers acting relatively unconstrained, arguing with critics and joking with their friends but not otherwise worrying about being caught behaving badly, that has clearly changed. One after another, disinfluencers’ feeds are giving way to stale and sterile self-promotion posts urging followers to buy their book or Substack subscription or t-shirts.

But that’s not to say that everything’s boring. While the climate-specific disinfluencers have gotten increasingly boring and buttoned-up, the general-purpose click-chasers who occasionally talk about climate change are only getting more unhinged, if such a thing is possible. So what’s not boring, is just so incredibly, painfully stupid. 

That’s where the UFOs come in. Michael Shellenberger‘s already abandoned his UFO conspiracy theory, but ousted Fox personality Tucker Carlson has picked up the thread for his “show” on X and the Tucker Carlson Network, his new propaganda effort.

So on the one hand, we can look forward to more professionalized disinfo in the form of staid press release-type content from lobbyists like Lomborg and Alex Epstein, and on the other, we can expect even more deranged content about extraterrestrials from the Twitter trolls.

2024 should be a fun year!  

Source: Daily Kos

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will include climate resilient debt clauses (CRDC) in new loan agreements with sovereign, sovereign-guaranteed and municipal clients from lower-middle-income countries where it works, EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso announced today at COP28, the global climate summit in Dubai. 

The EBRD’s CRDC will enable the deferral of repayment of loan principal for two years in the event of occurrence of an extreme climate-related or natural disaster, covering floods, droughts and earthquakes, the scale of which necessitates declaration of a state of emergency by the affected country. Eligible clients are expected to be able to start opting for the clause in their loan agreements by around mid-2024.   

CRDCs are primarily a short-term liquidity support tool which could provide borrowers with a fiscal “breathing space” at the time of a severe climate-induced or natural disaster, allowing them to repurpose financial resources from debt servicing to immediate response and recovery needs, and addressing the loss and damage from the impacts of climate change and natural hazards.    

The EBRD made its announcement along with other multilateral development banks – the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank – at a COP28 event on climate resilient debt clauses.  

The increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events worldwide in recent years has given added prominence to work on both climate adaptation and emergency responses to such events.  

The EBRD, a leader in climate finance in central and eastern Europe, Central Asia and the southern and eastern Mediterranean, has aligned all its activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement and has committed to make at least half its investment volumes green by 2025, a goal it has met for the past two years. 

Source: EBRD News

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A new project aiming to connect the film industries of the CIS countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) with Europe and the rest of the world is launching in the Kazakh city of Almaty this autumn.

The first edition of the Eurasian Film Market (EFM) will take place from 11 to 14 of September. The initiative is intended to be an annual international forum that facilitates the expansion of regional cooperation and the building of new business connections between the film industry in the region and the global film community.

Due to its rich natural environment and varied scenic landscapes, most films are shot in or around Almaty, making it the centre of the Kazakh film industry. The main film organisations are based in Almaty, which is why the city was chosen to host the first edition of the EFM.

The Eurasian Film Market aims to serve as the platform that not only unites professionals in the CIS film industry and creates optimal conditions for film business within the region, but also forges robust cooperative bridges between the CIS countries and the global film community.Hélène Haug, EFM co-founder and director

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“In light of the ongoing social-political developments worldwide, we recognise the increasing significance of Central Asia as a critical link between the East and West. Presently, Central Asian countries are producing films that garner invitations to prestigious A-list film festivals, with sales agents incorporating Central Asian films into their international line-ups. This surge in demand for co-production projects is further supported by a well-developed infrastructure for filming in the region. However, there remains much to be accomplished, improved and achieved”, said Hélène Haug, co-founder and director of EFM.

Among the participants to the forum will be other international film festival organisers, producers and production companies, distribution companies, sales agents, cinema chains, streaming platforms, as well as foreign organisations promoting the film industry of their country and representatives of foreign funds and selective fund programs that can support film production and distribution in the region.

One of the main goals of the EFM is to support the film industry in Central Asia, so the organisers set up the #SEARCH program, matching creators with buyers. Submissions for full length features films and documentaries from 2022/2023 are open until 31 August, after which international distributors, sales agents, streaming platforms or film festivals can choose the projects they want to partner with.

Additionally, EFM is creating an industry guide of Central Asian companies operating in the film industry. The catalogue will be distributed to all Eurasian Film Market participants and uploaded on a dedicated online platform created in partnership with Toqsan.com, as well as on the website of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea.

Source: Travel Tomorrow

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ISTANBUL

China’s first overseas climate and environment observatory, what Beijing calls “super,” has begun operations in Central Asia along the border with Afghanistan.

Initiated by Lanzhou University in 2016, the observatory is part of China’s multi-trillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) climate and environment observation network.

The station is located in the southwestern Shaartuz area of Tajikistan and commenced gathering “comprehensive data on dust, pollutants, and meteorological elements in key areas of Central Asia” over the weekend, Beijing-based Xinhua News reported.

Academic with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor at Lanzhou University, Huang Jianping, said: “The station is capable of providing meteorological disaster warnings and climate change countermeasures.”

The BRI network has designated 29 stations across member nations and regions, starting from Lanzhou city in northwestern Gansu province.

Seven stations in China and one in Peshawar city of Pakistan have already been launched.

Largest wind energy turbine begins operations in China

World’s largest wind energy-producing turbine began operations in China on Wednesday.

The 16-megawatt offshore wind turbine began operations in southeast China’s Fujian province, broadcaster CGTN reported.

It has been connected to China’s national grid.

China accounts for nearly 53% of global offshore wind energy, around 57.6 gigawatts.

Source: AA News

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